Entangled in a sexual relationship that has become exclusive, Beta-Plus hatchery worker Lenina Crowne (Jessica Brown Findlay of Downton Abbey) is sent to Alpha-Plus counselor Bernard Marx ( Game of Thrones’ Harry Lloyd) for a scolding. Showrunner David Wiener ( Homecoming) keeps the foundation of Huxley’s world intact, and populates it with mostly the same characters. The World State has, in effect, hacked consciousness to eliminate dissatisfaction. And to control for the X-factor of brain chemistry, there’s soma, a drug whose mood-altering powers (depending on the dosage) resemble Xanax or Ecstasy. Each rank performs a crucial function, has its material needs met and is conditioned to prefer their lot in life over any other. Epsilons are the simpleminded manual laborers. Here, each person is genetically engineered to be an ideal member of a certain caste: Alphas are the beautiful, brilliant ruling class. The futuristic World State of Aldous Huxley’s classic novel Brave New World, which is coming to TV via NBC Universal’s new streaming service Peacock after years in development limbo, believes it has solved that paradox. It’s what makes us dream of utopia and-because any perfect society would still require drudge work no self-actualized individual would be satisfied doing-what keeps that idyll out of reach. But it also opens us up to authoritarianism, inequality, war, genocide, systematic destruction of the environment. Sure, it’s what defines humanity-what allows us to make choices, feel emotions, form societies, create art, understand the world around us. Consciousness is, at best, a mixed blessing.

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